


Wait For Me (I'm Coming)

by Araine



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, M/M, Mythologizing, Retrieval from Underworld, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2020-12-07 18:10:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20980187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Araine/pseuds/Araine
Summary: Riku dies. Sora retrieves him.





	Wait For Me (I'm Coming)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to the mods at Cross the Line zine for their amazing work in putting everything together! Please check out the zine if you can!
> 
> I do not consent to have my work hosted on any third party app or site. If you are seeing this fanfiction anywhere but archiveofourown, tumblr, fanfiction.net or the Cross The Line fanzine it has been reposted without my permission.

It happens between one moment and the next. Sora and Riku are fighting back to back and, in the space of an eyeblink, everything goes wrong. There’s a flash and a hint of heat, and then Riku’s elbow in Sora’s ribs gracelessly pushing him out of the way, and then Sora’s watching as Riku-- arms akimbo, mouth caught open, silver hair sparking with a terrible lightning-- takes the blow that was meant for him. 

Sora sits frozen in that moment, rocks digging into his arm and side and the Kingdom Key’s hilt just at his fingertips, unable to move. Sora’s mind is blank for a moment as Riku is suspended, every feature etched more clearly by blinding light, and he looks back at Sora and smiles--

And 

then

he

f  
a  
l  
l  
s  
.  
.  
.

Sora jolts into movement (too late) and he catches Riku before he hits the ground, hauls him up so that Sora can feel his shallow breaths against his leg, and attempts a Cure. If there’s a change it’s small. It’s like trying to fill a lake with a bucket, and anything that he does will be too little and too late. He passes Riku off a potion anyways, and wraps his hand firm around the Kingdom Key.

He fights, fueled by all the fury and horror and love in his body. He fights in Riku’s stead, and for Riku’s sake. It’s short and brutal, the blow which felled Riku a last fury quickly extinguished. Sora wastes no time with his victory, feet skidding over broken ground until he is at Riku’s side once again. 

“Riku!” 

For one horrible moment there’s no movement. Then Riku’s eyelashes flutter, and his breath catches in his lungs. Sora kneels on the rocks and gently-- gently-- lifts Riku’s fading form into his lap. 

“Riku,” Sora says, tears hot and heavy on his lashes. “Why? Why would you--?” 

Riku’s hand reaches up, as if to touch Sora’s cheek. He doesn’t have the strength to complete the motion, and Sora catches his fingers. “Because, Sora,” he says, and there’s that smile again and Sora hates it. “You’re safe. That’s what matters.” 

Riku’s fingers go limp in Sora’s. Sora wraps his hand tighter around Riku’s, as if he might hold him to this world. “That’s not what matters.” Sora curls around Riku’s body, tears falling freely now onto Riku’s cheeks. “Not without you here.” 

Riku has no answers to give. He is limp and pale and unmoving, and as Sora stares down at his lifeless face the horror and pain rises from his heart to his throat, filling up his mouth until he cannot hold it back. 

Sora screams. 

\--

The entire place is drab and colorless. Sora remember wandering this endless maze with Auron, trying to find a way to escape. Now he’s wandering in, and trying to go deeper than ever before. 

He’s better about listening to his heart. This is where his heart is telling him Riku is, or at least the way to find him is. Sora only has to listen and somewhere in between the emptiness in his chest and the  
_beat_  
_beat_

_beat_  
_beat_  
of his heart, he can still feel Riku somewhere out there. That’s enough for Sora to come this far. He’s come to realize that a world without Riku in it is a world that is intolerable. 

So he’s come to drag him back. 

There’s a whoosh and a rush of heat at the back of his neck and a blue flickering glow in the cavern. Sora reaches out, instinctively closes his fingers around the hilt of his Keyblade. He turns around. 

“Hades!” He levels the blade at Hades. He’s flattened the god of the Underworld before-- he’ll do it again if he has to.

Hades raises his hands in a pacifying gesture. “Easy, pipsqueak. We don’t want a repeat of what happened last time on our hands.” 

Sora tightens his grip. “Give Riku back, or you’ll get a repeat of last time Hades.” 

Hades taps his chin. “Riku, Riku… Now where have I heard that name before? Oh yeah, back when Maleficent was still making terrible plans. What happened, kid, your boyfriend bite the dust?” 

“He’s not my--” Sora says reflexively, before shaking his head. He’s here for more important things. “Just give him back.” 

“No can do.” Hades shrugs, unconcerned. “Haven’t seen any Rikus pass through lately. So sorry, catch you later.” 

Sora’s grip falters on the Keyblade. “He’s… not here?” This was where his heart took him, following Riku. Was it all a lie, that he told himself, that he could find Riku and bring him back? “Isn’t this the Underworld? Aren’t you supposed to be in charge? Hercules brought Meg back, I saw it!” 

“Sure he did. Maybe try looking somewhere else.” Hades starts to bloom with black smoke as he backs into the twisting caverns beyond. “Toodleoo.” 

Sora panics. “Wait, Hades!” he calls. “Please wait. I’ll-- I’ll owe you a favor.” 

Hades smoke rapidly solidifies back into the form of the god of the Underworld. The avaricious glint in his eye is enough to wonder if he’s made the wrong choice. Riku might admonish him for being impulsive. But if it gets Riku back, Sora doesn’t care. 

“If you can tell me where Riku is, I’ll owe you one favor. Whatever you want.” 

He sounds more confident than he feels. Sora drops the Keyblade, lets it go dormant, as a show of faith. Hades holds out his hand. 

Sora shakes. 

Hades pulls a fat ledger from black smoke and dons a pair of reading glasses. “You’re-- ah-- sure he’s dead, this boyfriend of yours?” 

Sora’s chest tightens. “Yes.” 

“Great!” Hades says, and leafs through a few more pages. “Just like where you’re from has so many different worlds, the Underworld has many different Underworlds. What you’re seeing is just my little well-ordered portion. So I wasn’t lying when I said I hadn’t seen your precious Riku.” 

“But you can find him, right?” Sora says, thinking of his deal with Hades. 

“Sure, sure. All of the Underworlds are connected, a bit better than your topside worlds. If he’s down here, I’ll find him.” 

Sora waits, growing more impatient as Hades leafs through the ledger. He scowls when Hades flips back a few pages, and almost shouts when he consults the index, muttering to himself. “Let’s see, chapter five section three… no, chapter three section five, maybe….” Sora clamps his mouth shut over his own irritation. 

Hades is helping, even if he’s being slow about it. 

“Aha!” Hades says, triumphant. “Found him.” 

Sora’s impatient breaks through. “Where is he? How do I get to him?” He strains to see over the top of Hades’ book for a clue, but spies only characters in a strange language that he can’t read.

Hades waves his hand, and a yawning opening appears in the cavern wall, leading to a set of stairs that leads down and down and down. “Through there. Should be a straight path to him.” 

Sora squints suspiciously at the door. “It’s that easy?” 

Hades puts a hand to his chest, affronted. “God of the Underworld. In case you forgot.” 

Sora takes a step towards the door, still not quite trusting it. There could be anything written in that book. Hades could just be pulling his leg and leading him into a trap. “So I just-- go through here, and I’ll find Riku.” 

“You’ll be close enough to find him,” Hades says. “Getting there isn’t the problem. It’s all the rest of it that’s the hard part.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, it’s not impossible, bringing someone back. It’s been done before-- your friend Hercules did it.” Hades hair flames red around the edges on the name. “That Orpheus kid, I think Apollo managed it once or twice. Look, the point is he’s gotta have something to come back for or neither of you is making it out of here.” 

“That’s easy!” Sora says. “He’s got the King, and Kairi, and Donald and Goofy and everyone to come back for. Riku’ll make it, I’m sure of it.” He charges toward the threshold and stops, shoes hovering over the top step. He turns around. Grins. “Thanks Hades.” 

“Don’t mention it, kid.” Hades waves him off, watches as Sora disappears into the darkness, a smile curling over his lips. “We’ll see if it’s enough. Either way, I win.” 

Hades disappears into black smoke. 

\--

Sora descends forever. Or it feels like forever, one step in front of another and never sure if he’s any closer to the beacon in his heart that is Riku. He pushes through, each step a tiny bit harder than the last, pushing against some force that doesn’t want him here. His breathing is labored and coming out in clouds of white mist and he just wants to give up--

“No!” Sora declares to the ambient air. “I’m here to find Riku and I’m not giving up, not ever, not until I find him.” 

The force pressing down on him backs off, a little. Enough to breathe. But his sense of Riku is fading, growing fainter and further away. 

Sora runs, urgency filling up his heart and his throat. He flies down steps three at a time, uncaring of personal safety. That oppressive force bears down on him, worse than before, nearly taking Sora to his knees. He grits his teeth, summons the Kingdom Key, and keeps racing down the narrow stairs…

He emerges into an empty cavern, like walking into a gigantic bowl flipped upside down. The floor is an expanse of featureless black glass, and ever step Sora takes echoes off the plain black walls. 

In the center of the cavern is Riku. 

He is lying prone, submerged almost halfway in the black glasslike substance of the floor. His face is pale and his eyes are closed. Sora charges across the expanse, and each step is solid, like he is running across a marble floor. 

“Riku!” 

Sora skids to his knees at Riku’s side. He cradles Riku’s shoulders, tries to lift him. The black glasslike substance clings to him like quicksand, sucking him deeper by inches. Sora pulls anyways, against that slow inertia, and succeeds in lifting Riku a few inches. 

Riku’s eyes open. The ocean cerulean of his eyes has dulled, as if caught behind a sheet of frosty glass. His pupils dilate, eyes rove until they focus. “Sora?” 

Sora’s eyes fill with tears. “Riku.” He pulls at Riku’s limp form, fighting against the inertia of him sinking into the ground. 

Riku lets out a breath. It’s faint, and long, and sounds horrifically final. “Sora,” he says, with barely a voice. “How are you here?” 

Riku slips, another inch under the surface. Sora grabs the front of Riku’s jacket in his fists. “I came to find you. I came to bring you back,” Sora says. He hauls at the fabric. The substance of the floor slides off of Sora easily, but it stubbornly clings to Riku. “Come on. I’m not leaving without you!” 

Riku closes his eyes again. Again, that thin ghost of a smile. “I’m glad you’re safe. Stay safe for me Sora.” 

Riku’s body goes limp, and he starts sinking faster. Sora hauls uselessly at his jacket, trying to pull him up above the surface. It’s a losing battle. Riku’s legs are fully submerged, and the black substance is hungrily drawing in his torso, his shoulders, his head. “Riku, come on!” Sora screams, unable to face up to the fact that he might have come all this way only to lose Riku. It is unimaginable, as terrifying as the first moment he knew Riku was dead. “Come on, fight it, I know you can. You’re stronger than this. You can’t give up!” 

Riku doesn’t answer. Sora strains against the clinking muck. His hands are touching the edges of it, the glassy matter sliding off the edge of his palms. Riku is almost fully submerged, his head the only thing that’s above water. 

“Fight it, Riku!” Sora shouts, desperate. “This can’t be the end. What about your journey? You can’t tell me that’s all finished! There’s still so many worlds you haven’t seen! What about all our friends? Donald and Mickey and the King and Kairi? You never got to say goodbye to any of them!” 

Riku’s placid expression falls away, twisted by regret. His eyes flutter open again. “Sora,” he says, and for a moment Sora thinks-- yes, fight it Riku! “Say goodbye to Mickey and Kairi for me.” 

And he falls, limp, into the ooze, his jacket slipping at last from Sora’s desperate grasp. 

Sora tries to grab at Riku again. He bruises his hands on the unyielding surface of that glasslike black floor, unable to break the rapidly forming barrier between himself and Riku. Sora scrabbles at Riku’s face, cannot find purchase as his ears, lips, nose, eyes slowly sink below. He has failed. He has come all this way, fought this hard, only to watch Riku slowly disappear. 

Tears well up, hot and horrible, and drop from his cheeks to that glassy surface beneath him. They splash on the rock, right where Riku’s face would be. Sora stretches out his hand over Riku’s, as if it might reach him. 

“Riku,” he says. “Please. Don’t leave me.” 

__

Please. Don’t leave me.  Please. Don’t leave me. 

Please. Don’t leave me. **Please. Don’t leave me.**

Please. Don’t leave me.  
Please. Don’t leave me. Please. Don't leave me.  
Please. Don’t leave me.  
Please. Don’t leave me.  
Please. Don’t leave me. 

It echoes off of those featureless walls, louder than it should even in this cavernous space. Sora’s tears swim in his eyes. He isn’t sure if it’s the tears obscuring Riku’s face, or the darkness slowly enveloping him. He stays there, on his knees, unsure of how to move from the spot where Riku slipped away. 

A hand closes around Sora’s wrist. 

Riku is reaching up out of the muck, clinging onto Sora’s wrist with all his strength. Under the veil of the dark glass, he’s struggling. 

Sora grabs Riku’s wrist with his free hand. He hauls, straining against the glassy floor. Riku moves. An inch at first, then another, then more as the darkness begins to release him. Sora keeps pulling, straining all of his muscles to their limit. 

Riku broaches the surface, in a spray of black and glassy mud. It still clings to him, dripping off his hair and his clothes to fall back into the floor. He gulps in air in heaving gasping breaths, and Sora’s heart leaps into his throat. He helps Riku up the rest of the way, freeing his legs and feet from the ground still grabbing at them, and then throws his arms around Riku, who nearly overbalances and topples. 

“Riku!” Sora cries, and he buries his face in Riku’s chest. He smells the same. The scent fills Sora with such relief he nearly bursts into tears. 

Riku folds his arms around Sora gently, almost as if he believes he might not be real. With one hand he cradles Sora’s head to his chest, and Sora never wants to move again, ever. “Thank you, Sora.” Riku’s eyes are bright when Sora looks up at him. “Thank you for coming for me.” 

“You’re the one who fought for it. I just helped.” 

“I couldn’t have done it without you.” And Sora knows that what Riku said is true. It’s right there in his eyes, no longer pale and far away but bright and steady. It hits him full in the chest, this knowledge that Riku loves him too. 

Riku takes Sora’s hand into his, and their fingers curl tightly together. “Come on, we’ve gotta go.” 

The black and glassy mud is reaching for Riku again, curling around his boots. He pushes off against the surface, Sora alongside, and they are headed for the ceiling. The darkness behind stretches up, after them. No longer content with its inertial pull downwards, it is now a hungry hunter chasing the prey that got away. 

Riku dodges and weaves around the dark stuff, keeping pace with Sora. The black muck ignores Sora, unless he’s in its way. Sora summons his Keyblade and fights the stuff, physically. It can’t have Riku, he thinks as he swings, not again. 

They make it to the stairs Sora descended, the ones that Hades summoned for him. They sprint up it, Sora not letting go of Riku’s hand as they fly up and up and up with the darkness behind, chasing. 

Sora expects to emerge into more Underworld-- Hades piece of the Underword. Instead he charges up the last step and has to shield his eyes from the brightness at the end of a very long cave. 

The darkness strains, but the top of the stairs appear to be the limit of its reach. Sora grins at the roiling angry substance. Ha! Can’t get us now. 

Riku is also staring back at it, expression strange. He smiles when Sora squeezes his hand, and faces the light beyond the cave. 

“I guess it was enough.” Sora shakes his head at Riku’s puzzled look. He’ll explain later. “Come on, Riku. Let’s go home.” 

They both disappear into the sunlight.


End file.
